PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A tree census is underway in the Philadelphia area and for many of us, it’s do it yourself.
Phillytreemap.org is the outgrowth of a Department of Agriculture grant on urban forestry and the brainstorming of several groups including the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Philly Parks and Recreation.
Project Manager Deborah Boyer says the idea is to enlist anyone from a government to a homeowner to identify and list trees, and you don’t have to be an arborist to help.
“So we built something into the site called the Philly Tree Key. It’s a website. There will be a link to it and it’ll say does your tree have scales, or does it have needles or does it have leaves?” describes Boyer. “And when you pick that one, you get another question, such as do the leaves look like this or like that, and it will walk you through the identification process.”
The goal is to expand our understanding of the benefits of trees in health, energy and quality of life.
Reported By John Ostapkovich, KYW Newsradio.